Suspicious Windows Defender Folder Exclusion Added Via Reg.EXE

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About the rule

Rule Type

Standard

Rule Description

Detects the usage of "reg.exe" to add Defender folder exclusions. Qbot has been seen using this technique to add exclusions for folders within AppData and ProgramData.

Severity

Trouble

Rule Requirement

Criteria

Action1: actionname = "Process started" AND PROCESSNAME endswith "\reg.exe" AND COMMANDLINE contains "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Exclusions\Paths,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\Exclusions\Paths" AND (COMMANDLINE contains "ADD " AND COMMANDLINE contains "/t " AND COMMANDLINE contains "REG_DWORD " AND COMMANDLINE contains "/v " AND COMMANDLINE contains "/d " AND COMMANDLINE contains "0") select Action1.HOSTNAME,Action1.MESSAGE,Action1.COMMANDLINE,Action1.FILE_NAME,Action1.PROCESSNAME,Action1.USERNAME,Action1.PARENTPROCESSNAME

Detection

Execution Mode

realtime

Log Sources

Windows

Author

frack113